


here kitty kitty

by spoke



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 01:45:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18885589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/pseuds/spoke
Summary: In which a cat witnesses a murder, and is subsequently adopted.





	here kitty kitty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ghostmarch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostmarch/gifts).



The shadow of a storm is rolling out when he first comes home with the cat. To be fair, what Xaldin notices first is the water everywhere, and the mud, and he’s already up and ready to complain when he hears the most shaky and absolutely pitiful meow he’s ever heard in his life.

He doesn’t even like cats.

It’s staring at him with the same expression Xemnas has, and the exact same orangeish gold colored eyes.

“Oh fuck the both of you then,” he hears himself muttering, and turns to get some towels. He’s just going to ignore that soft rumble of laughter from Xemnas, because they are not keeping the damn thing no matter what he thinks. That he’s not willing to kill a pathetic little ball of ragged fur by throwing it out on the street doesn’t mean it can stay.

Returning with the towels to find Xemnas curled around it on the couch, however...

Xaldin shakes his head and comes over to offer him one of them, meaning to just go deal with the mess at the door. Still, there’s something ridiculously appealing about the way he sets to cleaning the little thing with the same care and attention he usually pays to cleaning his weapons. “Where did you even find that thing?” he asks, sneering at it and the little fleas he can see hopping off.

“I see them as well,” Xemnas says, anticipating Xaldin as he so often does, “and I’ll be getting a flea bath tomorrow. Or.. whatever one uses to deal with these problems. It was under my car when I finished work, and attacked my hand when I tried to remove it. That seemed to be the limits of its energy, and I... wanted it.” 

“This having nothing to do with your vanity and its eyes, of course.” Xaldin teases, not entirely gently, and smirks when Xemnas glares up at him. 

Only for a moment, before returning his attention to the cat, who has begun to fluff out a bit as it starts to dry. “And if it does, would that change anything? I will be keeping the kitten, Xaldin. It will provide a pleasing sense of domesticity for any eyes that care to watch.” 

He starts to object, more out of habit than anything, before realizing he has no real grounds for it. Although he does throw a curt ‘unlikely’ over his shoulder as he walks away. Because really, no one who actually suspects a thing about them is going to change their minds at all over a kitten. 

* * *

When wakes the next morning, Xemnas is already gone and the kitten is sleeping in a pile of new, dry towels by a note. As Xaldin reaches down for it, the kitten cracks one eye open and hisses quietly. “Confident little thing, aren’t you?” he says as he takes the note anyway, and the kitten stretches. 

‘Xaldin,

I am picking up supplies for Terra, as well as more salmon. I should be back before anything else requiring my attention arises. If Zexion calls, I leave it to you to tell him how best to mind his own business. 

...I am not at home if Vexen calls.

Xemnas.’

Xaldin rolls his eyes before setting the note aside and telling the... ‘Terra’ “He’s never at home if Vexen calls. He once hid in a closet when he was home when Vexen called, and the man was just on the phone.” The kitten just blinks up at him before getting up and stretching again, and follows when he heads into the kitchen. He notices it out of the corner of his eyes, alternately watching everything he does as he makes breakfast and sniffing everything it can reach. 

He yanked the cup away when it tried to drink his coffee after he added the creamer, though. “You’ve already had my salmon, little menace. The coffee stays mine.” It waved a tiny paw at the cup as if trying to reach it, and meowed pitifully again. “You are doing that on purpose, aren’t you? Terrible little thing.” He laughed, and scratched it lightly on top of its head, hoping he wasn’t doing it too hard. Such a small creature.

“You still can’t have coffee. Good attempt, though.” 

He could swear it makes an irritated little mrrrp sound as it jumps down off the counter.

* * *

“The interesting thing is how he can have hidden himself so well with less than a day to have explored the house.” Xemnas says, checking under the cushions on the couch for the seventh time.

Xaldin laughs as he checks the closet for maybe the fifth time before shutting it again. “Really? It’s not more interesting that the scruffy little fleabag understood the word ‘b a t h’?” 

Xemnas stops looking under the couch to turn and glare at him. “The point of this exercise is to fix those problems, Xaldin. And I didn’t hear you complaining that I fed him salmon, so I had assumed you had accepted Terra into our household.” 

“What? I didn’t find out about the salmon until it was already gone and you’d said you were replacing it.” Xaldin snorted as he continued, “If there’s any acceptance about this, it’s because I know you won’t change your mind. ...also, it’s fairly intelligent. Again, it understood ‘b a t h’.” 

Xemnas shook his head and went into their bedroom to check again. “Cats can’t understand human language, Xaldin. Terra does not know we’re trying to give him a bath.” 

At that point, Xaldin stormed over and threw a pillow at him. “Stop. Using. the damn. Word.” he hissed, and when Xemnas stared at him with wide eyes, clearly starting to tilt over into anger. “Xemnas, I grew up with dogs. Do you think they needed to understand our language to be trained? Not a bit. Word equals action, that’s all they needed to know. This cat of yours understands b a t h, and it’s never going to come out if you keep saying it.”

His eyes had narrowed slowly while Xaldin spoke, and his hands flexed lightly as if he’d held a weapon, but he held onto his temper and that was all they really needed right now. “Indeed. What would you suggest as a solution, then?” 

“I’d been trying to learn about cats online while I was waiting for you to return,” and before he’d eventually pried Vexen away from their door, but there was no real need for Xemnas to know that, “and pretending nothing is happening seems to be the best approach. Also maybe leaving food out for it.” 

“Well. That we have at least. As well as toys, and brushes, and nail clippers the salesperson suggested we’ll need in the future.” He glanced down at the bandaid on his hand, where he’d been wounded when Terra made good his escape. “I think that future has already arrived, really. Surely something that small shouldn’t have had such long claws.” 

* * *

A full three hours later, an excessively grumpy pile of fur crouched hissing under the couch as it continued to dry. They’d never figured out where he was hiding, but canned cat food had turned out to be a very effective lure. 

If only it had also convinced him that the water wasn’t killing him, let alone the flea treatment. “At least he isn’t a biter.” Xaldin had commented at one point, and he was sure Xemnas had deliberately splashed him for that as they were wrapping up. Which is why he was the one drying off when the door rang, and Xemnas got to answer it for a change. 

And a good thing, because he almost joined Terra in hissing when he heard that bastard Sora’s voice. He could make out something about someone missing in the area, which was hilarious because of course there’d been. People should know to mind their own business, shouldn’t they. Xemnas’s voice had a definite lilt of amusement as he responded, and Xaldin contented himself with imagining the frustration and anger under Sora’s determined smile as he dressed. 

He didn’t come out until he heard the door close, however. He’d had enough stress today just holding the furball down.

Thank goodness that salesperson had also recommended gloves for this procedure. 

“What did the little bastard want this time?” He asked as he came into the living room, where the hissing seemed to have stopped for the time being. 

Xemnas chuckled softly, an unusual enough response that Xaldin stopped to glance at him instead of continuing on his way to the kitchen. His eyes had that creepy, beautiful almost-glow to them as he responded, “Apparently someone saw something being put into a car yesterday, and since there’s a missing persons report out on Ansem from RG Corp...” 

They both laughed quietly, and this seemed to be enough to calm Terra and bring him out from under the couch. As he climbed into Xemnas’s lap, Xaldin said, “Of course, that couldn’t have been your car, could it. He’s probably asking everyone in the area if they’ve seen anything.”

“Oh yes, he was quite insistent. Everyone of course, except the only one who might have seen anything.” He replied, as he began scratching under the kitten’s little chin. “Isn’t that right, Terra?”


End file.
